Searching for the Cause of Autism/ Letter To Rick Rollens

[Guest guest]

~~

KidsHeart ~ www.geocities.com/KIDSHEART2000 ~

July 27, 2000Searching for the Cause of Autism/ Letter To Rick Rollens [by Olivastro and Adam Levermore-Rich, Policy.com]http://www.policy.com/news/dbrief/dbriefarc764.asp Many frustrations go into caring for an autistic child. Chief amongthem, for parents -- as well as support groups and scientists who study thedisorder -- is the frustration of not knowing the cause. Their frustrationis compounded by a statistical study, conducted earlier this year, thatreported that the incidence of autism has increased at least 20-fold in thelast decade. "[T]he rates of autism have escalated dramatically. ... [W]hat used tobe considered a rare disorder has become a near epidemic," Rep. Dan Burton,R-Ind., chairman of the House Government Reform and Oversight Committee saidduring hearings on the issue in April. "If we want to find a cure, we must first look to the cause," Burtonadded. "We must do this before our health and education systems arebankrupted and before more of our nations' children are locked insidethemselves with this disease." Autism is a brain disorder that affects physical, social and languageskills. The syndrome usually appears in children before they reach age 3 andis characterized by an inability to socialize and a tendency to engage inconstantly repeated actions or comments. It was first diagnosed in 1943 todescribe children who appeared to be excessively withdrawn and preoccupied. One new theory on autism's mysterious cause from Dr. Wakefield,with the Royal Free Hospital and School of Medicine in London, is receivinga lot of media attention. In a study he published in the February 1998 issueof the British medical journal Lancet, Wakefield concluded that a commonvaccine prescribed to infants by thousands of doctors around the world maybe the source of the growing autism problem. According to Wakefield, the MMRvaccine -- for measles, mumps and rubella -- might cause a bowel disease insome infants that in turn causes autism. The new theory has caught onrapidly among parents of autistic children. But mainstream medical organizations and leaders in the field ofimmunization argue that there is no convincing evidence to support thetheory. "There have not been solid studies," says autism expert Kurtz, executive director of Princeton University's Child DevelopmentInstitute. Kurtz is not surprised that so many parents have embraced the newtheory and says, "This is what happens when you have a catastrophic diseasethat we don't know the ideology of. We want to know, but there is no quickcure." At the House hearing on the issue, parents of autistic childrentestified that normal development by their children was suddenly halted andreversed immediately after being vaccinated. However, doctors know thatbanning the vaccine is not a feasible approach. They note that measles is a serious virus that can lead to death.Measles cases in the United States have dropped 98 percent since the vaccinewas introduced in 1963. But between 1989 and 1991, measles saw a slightresurgence and struck 55,622 people, mostly children younger than 5, causingmore than 11,000 hospitalizations and 125 deaths. Wakefield, however, is not anti-vaccine. He testified before thecommittee saying, "If, following thorough independent scientificinvestigation, it emerges that autistic enterocolitis and other relateddisorders are causally related to a compound influence of the componentviruses of MMR, whether these viruses have been encountered naturally or inthe vaccine, then through judicious use of the vaccines, one may have ameans for preventing the disease." Wakefield goes on to suggest spacing thesingle vaccines over the course of several days instead of applying allthree at once may be enough to reduce the risk. Other medical researchers are exploring different explanations for thevarious forms of autism. Current research links autism to biological orneurological differences in the brain. In many families there appears to bea pattern of autism or related disabilities -- suggesting a genetic basis tothe disorder -- though no gene has been directly linked to autism. Mostresearchers believe the genetic basis to be very complex, probably involvingseveral genes in combination. But Dr. Goldberg, a pediatrician on the clinical teachingstaff at the University of California in Los Angeles (UCLA) and president ofthe Neuro-Immune Dysfunction Syndromes Research Institute, said in Marchwhen announcing the 20-fold increase in autism that the culprit must be morethan genetics. "If autism were purely behavioral or genetic, we would not bewitnessing this dramatic rise in the number of cases, particularly thosechildren that experience a period of normal development prior to theemergence of symptoms," he said. "It is scientifically impossible to have anepidemic of a developmental or genetic disorder of any type. Clearly,something is very wrong here." Take the Mystery out of Autism ** SUBSCRIBE Emailed to you Daily no cost: http://www.feat.org/FEATNews* * *Letter To Rick Rollens on Newsweek and I've just submitted a letter to Newsweek, in support of this week'sissue and the terrific support it provides to the autism community. I wouldlike to add a special note to Rick Rollens. I went out on Monday to pick upa copy of the Newsweek issue and was prepared to deal with the emotions Iknew would come from reading the articles. I was not prepared for thepicture of your son, , on the cover. He so highly resembles my ownson, they could easily pass for brothers or even twins! I stood at thecheckout counter crying. I'm sure that you understand that they were tearsof frustration mixed with tears of joy and hope. Thank you for all that you do to help unravel the mystery of autism.And thank you, for sharing 's picture with the world, one more of themany beautiful faces of autism. SaraulloNewtown, PA Send a letter to Newsweek urging them to continue their coverage of autism: letters@... or send a fax: Be sure to include your address and phone. Also send a copyof it to us: FEAT@...* * *Vote, Buy & Write Newsweek Parent Drive Effective In numbers that will make them take notice, Newsweek is feeling theresults of parents of children with autism and friends letting the nationalmagazine know the importance their coverage of autism is. Many letters urge Newsweek to take a deeper look into the variousissues surrounding and confounding the autism community. What about theinfluence of mercury? What about biomedical, immunologic and dietaryfactors? How about taking a deeper look at the vaccine controversy. Thereis much more juicy news meat left to chew on this bone yet (or tasty cornleft on the cob - for you veggies). There are some signs that the parent newsstand buyout campaign is alsoworking. Despite having placed an advanced order for 50 copies of thisedition, we were told by the magazine distributor for nine Californiacounties that the magazine is disappearing from the racks fast and no extracopies are available due to demand. Spot shortages have also been reportedfrom cities in New Jersey, Florida and Arizona as well. We are urgingparents and friends everywhere to create news rack shortages of the magazinewhere they live or work. Be sure to buy one this week. On MSNBC Viewer’s Top 10 rated stories, Newsweek’s feature article,Understanding Autism’ is still rated number one with close to 2000 votescast. MSNBC.com's most highly recommended stories are rated daily on ascale of 1 to by MSNBC.com viewers. (Results are automatically updated every60 seconds.) To add your voice to the tally, simply cast your vote on the ratingsscale at the bottom of each story on MSNBC on the Internet.http://www.msnbc.com/top10.asp?______________________________________________________ UC M.I.N.D. Institute: http://www.mindinstitute.orgEditor: Lenny Schafer | Eastern Editor: | News Wire: Ron Sleithschafer@... | PhD | News: Kay Stammers

~~Have A Wonderful Day~~

Visit the KIDSHEART webpage: http://www.geocities.com/KIDSHEART2000

Visit the new Parenting and Children Bulletin Board:

http://www.halftheplanet.com/community/boards/Forums/Index.cfm?CFApp=31